In light of the recent attacks on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Hand Off Venezuela campaign has issued a protest letter addressed to Tony Blair. We urge all our readers to add their signatures.

In light of the recent attacks on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Hand Off Venezuela campaign has issued a protest letter addressed to Tony Blair. We urge all our readers to add their signatures.

Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Tony Blair 10 Downing Street, London

Dear Prime Minister,

We the undersigned were very concerned and alarmed by the remarks you made in the House of Commons on Wednesday 8th February concerning Venezuela. The criticisms you leveled at the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the need for him to mend his ways and "abide by the rules of the international community" were very wide of the mark. Recently, as you are no doubt aware, there has been an avalanche of attacks on the Venezuelan government emanating from the White House. The US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has even gone so far as to compare Chavez to Adolf Hitler. Similar noises were made before the invasion of Iraq and are nothing more than preparation for an unprovoked attack against Venezuela, including on the life of its president.

We feel that your intervention last Wednesday, coupled with your criticism of Venezuela’s friendship with Cuba, only add to this Cold War rhetoric and escalation of hostilities against Venezuela.

Hugo Chavez and his government have handsomely won no fewer than nine democratic elections, far more than the "friends" of the United States such as Saudi Arabia, or the regimes that were previously propped up by the United States throughout Latin America.

As you are no doubt aware Prime Minister, the Chavez government has enormous public support arising from the progressive policies introduced since 1998 to benefit the most downtrodden sections of society.

President Chavez has managed to eradicate illiteracy with the help of Cuba, has brought one million children into the education system, created 657 new schools, established eight new universities and hired 36,000 additional teachers. For someone who prides himself on education, one would have thought you would have whole-heartedly welcomed such progressive steps.

The Chavez government has tried to eliminate the class-ridden latafundia by distributing 2.2m. hectares (5.5m. acres) to 116,000 landless families, and have been organised into co-operatives. Furthermore, the new Bolivarian constitution guarantees the public ownership of Venezuelan oil and the distribution of this wealth to all its citizens, the many and not the few. Other reforms have been introduced providing housing and cheap food to the poorest, mostly indigenous people.

On the international front, President Chavez swiftly offered material assistance to the victims of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and has also provided cheap fuel oil to the poorest families of the United States to keep them from freezing this winter. We could go on.

We strongly feel, and hope that you would agree Prime Minister, that it is our responsibility to bring out the facts concerning Venezuela and to give support to genuinely progressive measures in the interests of the majority of the people.